CJ Kelly had to cancel a flight home when he found out UCF men’s basketball received a bid to the NIT.
The sixth-year senior figured his college career was complete after the Knights fell to Memphis in the AAC quarterfinals last Friday.
Two days later, he was pleasantly surprised to find out there’d be at least one more game to play.
“I honestly thought it was it,” Kelly said after practice Tuesday. “I gave a nice speech to the team and they clowned me after because I gave that speech for nothing since we’re still playing.
“Now that we’re playing again, I’m thrilled to keep playing with the guys and coach [Johnny] Dawkins.”
UCF (18-14, 8-10 AAC) will travel to Gainesville on Wednesday to face the Florida Gators (16-16, 9-9 SEC) in the first round of the NIT (ESPN2, 7 p.m.).
“We were hopeful but we weren’t certain because you never know what that field is going to look like,” Dawkins said. “All of our guys are excited. We’re looking forward to competing again and being together with the team.”
The Knights haven’t faced the Gators since 2012 (a 79-66 loss in Gainesville) but the in-state rivalry only adds to the intrigue.
“I heard we hadn’t played against Florida in 10 years so this actually is a big game for us,” Kelly said. “We’re going to take it personally, as we take every game, but since it’s in Florida there’s an extra notch.”
Gators coach Todd Golden has seen his share of in-state opponents. UCF will be the fifth after his team took its first loss of the season to FAU on Nov. 14 and beat FSU, Florida A&M and Stetson.
“I’m more worried about making sure we compete really well, regardless of who we’re playing,” he said. “It’s a great challenge for us because if I put myself in the shoes of a player from UCF, I want to prove that I’m better than the guys playing at UF.
“They’re going to do whatever they can to kind of knock us off that perch. An additional challenge for us is to make sure we can protect our home floor.”
While it’s Florida’s second straight appearance in the NIT, it’s UCF’s third all-time appearance and first since 2017 when it reached semifinals during Dawkins’ first year in Orlando.
Dawkins won’t change his message from the regular season.
“What we need to do is take it one game at a time,” he said. “That’s all you can do is approach it that way. That’s how we approach the season and that’s how we approach tournaments.”
The Gators are 2-4 since big man Colin Castleton broke his hand on Feb. 15 against Ole Miss. The 6-foot-11 DeLand native led them in scoring (16.0 ppg), rebounding (7.7) and blocks (3.0).
Florida dropped three straight games after the injury but beat Georgia and LSU before falling 69-68 to Mississippi State in overtime during the second round of the SEC Tournament.
“They can score the basketball,” Dawkins said about Florida. “They mix their defenses up pretty well. They press some, they fall back in man. They do a good job. It’s going to be a tough challenge.”
Golden also described UCF as a “huge challenge.” Florida (63rd) sits just two spots ahead of UCF in the Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings.
“A perimeter-shooting team first and foremost, but a team that is really disruptive defensively, does a good job playing [the] ball, playing passing lanes and getting steals that way,” Golden said. “We’re right next to each other KemPom wise and obviously, a big part of that KenPom season for us was with Colin.
“So, going to be challenged, but any team that’s still playing, whether it be the NCAA [tournament] or the NIT at this time of year is going to be a pretty good team.”
Added Kelly: “It’s big. The NIT is fun. I told the guys don’t take it for granted. Not every team gets to go to the postseason.”
The Sentinel’s Edgar Thompson contributed to this report. Email Jason Beede at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @therealBeede.
